The Crisis Management Programme, also known as the "crisis management fund", was established in June by a government order. The most significant part of its resources comes from the surplus revenue of electricity suppliers. The only flaw is that this amount should have gone to all the consumers - consumer protection groups and the opposition continue to question whether it was legal to transfer it to the programme's account. Electricity suppliers have no possibility of consideration: they are obliged by law to pay the surplus revenue - that's what the competent authorities of E.ON, Elmű, ÉMÁSZ and DÉMÁSZ (these are all regional electricity suppliers) have pointed out to Heti Válasz. Norbert Boross, the communications director of ELMŰ-ÉMÁSZ hurriedly tried to dispel the belief that the additional revenue came from extra profit or excessive charges. He explained that the wholesale price of electricity decreased in the past few years, but when - at the end of 2007 - the Hungarian Energy Office (MEH) defined the prices valid for 2008, it did not yet know this. Owing to the decrease in prices, an average surplus revenue of five hundred Forints developed by the end of the year, 60 percent of which they now have to transfer to the crisis management fund, and 40 percent to various foundations. According to Norbert Boross, surplus revenue is not such a strange thing: in 2006, it was the residential consumers who received credit because of overpayments, while in 2007 it was the industrial consumers.

This spring, the Hungarian Energy Office's plan was to transfer 60 percent of the present surplus to consumers' bank accounts, and with the remaining amount help, through foundations, those needy people who are in danger of being cut off from the electricity services (nationwide, there are 150 thousand such consumers registered). The crisis management fund was not unanimously successful among mobile operators either, for they had also been called upon to donate. When we enquired about how they contributed, Magyar Telekom started going into details about their policy of support, from which it was easy to deduce that they were not too enthusiastic about the idea.

In June, four humanitarian organisations - the Hungarian Baptist Aid, Caritas Hungarica, the Hungarian Interchurch Aid and the Hungarian Red Cross - said the government had "misunderstood its role". As far as we know, it is thanks to the lobbying of social minister László Herczog that two protesting organisations - the Baptists and the Red Cross - finally decided to delegate a member each to the crisis management fund's advisory board. Apart from them, agents of the National Social Policy Council, the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service, the Allianace of Social Professionals, the National Association of Large Families, the Hungarian Anti-Poverty Network and the National Alliance of Roma Authorities (Országos Cigány Kisebbségi Önkormányzat) take part in the organisation's work. It is true, however, that many of them have misgivings: Endre Szabó, chairman of the Association of Large Families, told our paper the following: "the crisis management fund offers help on one single occasion, and this isn't really a solution, especially if we take into consideration that in the past few years, the government has taken many times this much away from families. We consider the crisis management fund a form of minimising the burdens, that's the only reason we're participating in it. And it really makes us angry when this initiative is used for communicational purposes, or by party politics, as it is now," says Endre Szabó.

The leader of Baptist Aid, Sándor Szenczy, who formerly protested against the crisis management fund, also expressed his doubts concerning the operation of an organisation with no administration. At the same time, he pointed out that his fears regarding the allocation of funds before the elections have grown weaker, for the submission of applications and the checking of data will take place via local governments, 80 percent of which are not pro-government. As for the government's communication regarding the crisis management fund, he says: "All I'm interested in is that 40-year-old people should not commit suicide because of their debts."

Szenczy also points out that the government could have many, more serious opportunities to promote assistance - for example by making donation exempt from tax. In contrast, the Ministry of Finance keeps referring to a European Union regulation that excludes this possibility, although no one has actually seen this regulation. And yet, if the 20 percent VAT on donations were abolished, that would mean there'd be no more absurd cases such as multinational companies taking food that has passed its sell-by date to the rubbish dump (in this way, they can at least claim the VAT back) instead of giving it to charity organisations, support groups and local organisations (and pay tax for it). In the light of the above, the "victorious report" of the Socialist party's faction leader last week may seem a little strange. Even before the crisis fund was launched, József Tóbiás hurriedly announced that "the crisis management fund enjoys widespread support within society; Fidesz has lost the battle against the crisis fund."

Nevertheless, it was Fidesz-KDNP, and not the Socialists, who came up with a suggestion of how to solve the problem of donations being taxed. Miklós Soltész, leader of the union of party groups' welfare cabinet, made a suggestion on July 20th regarding the repeal of VAT on public donations. At the press conference held last week, Tóbiás reacted by saying MSZP "shall promote that Miklós Soltész's proposal be considered by the government". Earlier, the Socialists had urged that banks should transfer one Forint to the fund after each transaction with a credit or debit card. Péter Felcsuti, chairman of the Hungarian Banking Association, said the crisis management fund was a typical example of populism, while Sándor Csányi, head of OTP-Bank, called it a marketing method that hadn't been thought through, and added that he would prefer to transfer the money that the bank was expected to pay, directly to those foundations of public utility whose aims he considered worthy of supporting. Csányi also remarked the following: "There is one thing that I wouldn't like to see happen: the person whose idea it was gets all the recognition, and not those who actually give the donations."        

Who shall have the key to the cash-box?

"The "crisis management fund" is a bank account, so despite its name, it does not count as a government fund which is obligatorily examined each year by the State Audit Office (ÁSZ)," the deputy-director general of ÁSZ tells us. The aid obtainable from the crisis fund can be applied for through the notaries, who also examine whether the applicant is eligible or not; the local governments verify that the data in the applications is authentic. The regional administrations of the Central Administration of National Pension Insurance (ONYF) shall decide who gets the aid. Each week, the advisory board of the programme receives data from the ONYF and the Pension Payment Directorate (Nyufig) about the sums paid and the rejected requests for aid, and from the feedback of the delegating organisations, they can observe the impartiality of the decisions. If necessary, the members of the body may even propose the amendment of the relevant government regulation. It is estimated that the aid may affect about 120-150 thousand families. At the same time, there is only a single allotment, which can be around 20-50 thousand Forints per family, the maximum amount - in cases that deserve special attention - is 100 thousand Forints. Beside the initial amount of one billion Forints, Gordon Bajnai offered his salary as a contribution to the programme, also, leaders of state-owned companies have to offer that part of their gross salary which is above 2 million Forints. Members of the government have transferred one month's salary to the programme's bank account. One part of the money coming in from banking fines - offered by the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority - also lands here. Each month, the Ministry of Social Affairs publishes the amounts that have been paid into the account.